


My Hero

by AbelQuartz



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Blushing, Dresses, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Humanity, Inspired by Fanart, Romance, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Steven Universe Future, Teen Romance, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22474408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbelQuartz/pseuds/AbelQuartz
Summary: Connie's got a brand new outfit for their first date, and Steven's rocking that dress. Everything is beautiful — the ocean, the boardwalk, the food, the people. So what's running through Connie's mind to make her feel uneasy? Is that the word for it? What would Steven say?
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 24
Kudos: 105





	My Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a piece of art by @suf-fering on Tumblr: https://tinyurl.com/tegum3s

She knew Steven could sense the genuine nature of her staring. He blushed pink, then did a twirl for her, pink flip-flops sending a pebble skidding over the boardwalk. The edge of his dress rose like the bulb of a bluebell, swishing right back over his thighs. It all felt so fashion-forward, so grown-up. In her boots and jeans, Connie felt like she was ready to take on a city, walking down Empire’s squares with her clutch close and her boyfriend closer. She wouldn’t have used that word out loud yet. 

But they were both thinking it. Weren’t they? Steven smoothed down his dress as they started to head down the road. Connie let the clutch dangle as she watched him. 

Bay Town’s renovated restaurant walk was built for tourism, easily five to ten times the length of the boardwalk back in Beach City. There was a map in the parking lot where Steven had left the Dondai, showcasing the locations of historical sites and shopping areas on the next block over from the beach’s eateries. Seafood and Italian cuisine were thrust between organic ice-creameries and candy stores, bits of fried food wafting over the scent of salt and petrol. Fishing piers with fresh graffiti stretched out into the high tide. The dog walkers and late-spring visitors from inland were crowding up the planks. Connie felt like they were lost in the crowd, but they were lost together. 

“Dad helped me get a debit card so I wouldn’t have to carry much around,” Steven said as he patted the pocket sewn into the hip of his dress. “It’s still his, so I told him to only put a little bit in so we could eat and have fun tonight.”

“How much is ‘a little bit’ to your dad?”

“...pick whatever restaurant you want.”

Connie wondered if Steven ever thought about his family, his money, and what he could do with the power of the Diamonds behind him. As they walked, Steven talked about Peridot’s escapades in Little Homeworld, her attempts to explain financial systems to the Homeworld Gems following adventures in tablet microtransactions. What if he could educate other humans about the lives of Gems? What if he could talk to the world? It was grand, and certainly dramatic, but Connie watched Steven tell his stories and she knew there could be more.

The world of the Gems and the world of human beings had already intersected before. Beach City was a locus of energy and problems, of drama that had almost destroyed the town a thousand times over. But it was a place of growth, of merging cultures. Nobody here on the boardwalk knew how it felt to be chased by a massive glowing worm-monster. They must have seen the reports of the sea vanishing, but it had come back for them without reason or a purpose for its temporary vacancy. Connie knew the reasons behind everything, all the stories, all the natural and unnatural events. What would happen if Steven told the world?

“...and she almost got the satellite hacked before Lapis drowned the computer.”

“Hey — Steven?”

“Oh, hm? What’s up?”

“Don’t you feel...different?”

Steven lowered his eyebrows, as if he was looking at a math problem or a crowded schedule. He looked around at the other boardwalk patrong. None of the other men were wearing dresses as far as they could see, but the small glances were few and far between. The boy certainly wasn’t acting as though he felt out of place. The redness returned to his cheeks as he laughed softly.

“Is it because we’re on kind of a date?” he said.

“Well, not ‘kind of,’” Connie laughed. “Didn’t you say, I quote, ‘it’s a date’ when we planned this?”

Steven tried to hide his smile, and the embarrassment made him push his legs together and squirm, but Connie reached over and took his hand in her own. In private, it was how they had been comforting each other. Small moments, little snips of time, passed by in heartbeats when they sat alone together. When Connie was reading and Steven was taking a break from school, they held hands on the couch. Back-to-back talking about the weight of the world, the two of them put their fingers in proximity. Steven had to take a deep breath now as Connie squeezed his hand. The grounding was public. They were together. Connie watched to see how he reacted as she relaxed her grip.

“Look at all these people, Steven!”

“Oh man, I would really rather not,” he mumbled.

“No, I mean — Steven, what would you do if they knew what you’ve done for the Earth?”

“I haven’t really thought about that. I guess it’s just like Beach City, where they’re used to all this stuff? But they don’t really know me. Most humans don’t know most humans, y’know? Connie, why are you bringing this up now?”

“I’m just…”

The girl held her tongue for a moment, then pulled Steven close, arm to arm. They continued walking down the boardwalk. Connie could sense her friend’s need to ask for clarification, to ask a dozen other questions about her thought process, to see if there was something bothering her deep in her soul. The microcosm of Connie felt so scrutinized, even though she knew Steven didn’t mean it. She could tell he was bursting at the seams, so she nudged his shoulder and forced a sigh. 

“I’m just really proud of you,” she said. “And I feel so lucky.”

“Lucky? You’re stuck with me,” Steven chuckled.

The joke seemed to wither immediately on Steven’s tongue. Connie didn’t appreciate the self-deprecation either, but she could tell what the boy was thinking, the horrible notion. There were other boys at Connie’s school. There were boys with stable lives and part-time jobs and two human parents. There were fit boys, book-smart boys, boys who could take time out of their lives to give Connie attention and devotion just like Steven. There must have been — but Connie didn’t pay any attention to those boys whatsoever. The girl slid her hand past Steven’s arm, breaching the space between his wrist and his hips. They slowed together. Steven stiffened as Connie’s hand traversed the small of his back, until she was holding him almost by the hip, pulled close.

She could hear her boyfriend’s squeaking protests die on the way out of his mouth. It wasn’t her intention to fluster him, but it gave her the space to speak. She pulled Steven along down the salt-soaked boards. Connie didn’t care that more people were giving them glances now. If there was any embarrassment in her stride, it was a remnant of her adolescent days, back when she was scared of the world, before she realized her whole world was walking with her in a perfect periwinkle dress.

“I’m stuck with the most magical boy this side of the galaxy?” Connie said.

“Er-r, I-I…”

“I’m stuck with my best friend for the last eight years?”

“Right, b-but —”

“Steven.”

Connie squeezed his side, and Steven let out the breath he was holding like a balloon. He stopped walking, then cautiously raised his arm around Connie’s shoulder. She wished she could take all the tension in his touch and throw it into the ocean, drain it into the rocks. But she knew that it wasn’t because of her. It wasn’t because of this. They took one step forward at a time, their feet asking each other questions until they found a harmony together. Connie could hear the soft slapping of plastic against Steven’s heel.

“I feel stuck, in a way? Not in a bad way,” she said quickly, “but… On the one hand, I think like everyone should know what you’ve done for this planet. You’re a hero! But I love being one of the only humans who really knows what you’ve done. It makes me feel like part of something special. I know we’ve talked about magical destiny stuff, but — it feels real.”

It took Steven a second to sigh and let his arm relax.

“Sometimes I wish I could see myself as a hero. But I just want to be me.”

“Why can’t you be both?”

“It’s not that there’s a conflict. I just feel like Steven isn’t a hero to...the faceless public. I want it to mean something.”

“Pretty sure if everyone knew that you saved the world they’d think it meant something.”

“Not everyone.”

Connie had to concede that point. There would always be someone who didn’t agree with the way things were being run, the outcomes of any major decision, where the future was going. She had seen enough of the news to understand where Steven was coming from.

A toddler in a sunhat three sizes too big for her shrieked with laughter next to them, holding her father’s hand as they hurried along the way. In the shadow of a pretzel stand, a young man in an apron leaned over and kissed his partner on the neck when he thought nobody was looking. Two old women sat on the end of a bench with their phones out and their sentences overlapping, showing each other pictures of family in their home country. Connie looked back at the boardwalk. What would these people do if they knew what Steven had done? What would they being doing?

And it didn’t matter. Connie felt her fingers shudder, though it was warm for spring, and the ocean wind blew her mind back down. They didn’t have to know a thing. To Steven, all the lives here were worth saving, and he probably didn’t realize that he didn’t care. It wasn’t apathy, certainly not maliciousness, but beyond the life, they had no impact on his happiness. She felt his hand cup her shoulder, moving back and forth in inches as if asking Connie for permission to touch her skin.

“Hey, Biscuit.”

They hadn’t used that nickname in years. The word had floundered up from some dark corner of Connie’s mind, where all her best childhood memories rested. Steven looked at her in surprise, and Connie watched his face melt into recognition. It had been so long since a name meant so much to him.

“What’s up, Strawberry?” he murmured, blushing from cheek to cheek.

“You know that you’re my hero. Right?”

Steven gripped the hem of his dress with his free hand, and the two paused for just another moment. The boy tensed the muscles in his legs, then his arms, resetting his whole body for the evening ahead. They still had dinner to get to, a walk to take, the possibility of two hands together again. 

“I think I’m okay with that,” Steven said. 

Connie already knew what she would do to save Steven. His arm around her felt relaxed and warmed by the sun as it dipped into the horizon. Connie let her fingers press into the curve of his belly beneath the blue. Over dinner, she’d ask him about all the things he was enjoying working with the Gems, and the classes his friends were running. Maybe he’d ask her about how the college search was going, if she was thinking about applying for scholarships, if she’d talk about her missions in her essays. 

Whoever wanted to look could look. Connie knew this was love. Their feet tapped on the Bay Town boardwalk in an answer:  _ here, here, here, here.  _ There was nowhere else to go but forward.


End file.
